Death Has Come (2/7)

"Sanguis... Sanguis, wake up." I spoke in a quiet voice to her as she was still sleeping on my shoulder.

"*Yawn* Mmm Luciel are we there yet?"

"We're pretty close, see, that's the border wall over there it seems."

"Oh I didn't expect us to reach this fast. These guys really are amazing." mused Sanguis as she looked at the Bone Horses with fire on their body and the undead surrounding us, keeping up with the carriage.

"They are... but what are we going to do about getting them inside the city?" I asked, thinking about how I should get them across.

"Oh about that, Ranizgard is a city of all species. And necromancers with their undead are welcome too. Although I'm sure no-one has seen as many undead as we have currently."

"That's perfect. And it seems like we're nearing the border. Let's slow down and get off."

"Undead, slow down and come to a halt when you have arrived near the border walls, do not attack any guards." I told my undead.

And soon we eventually came to a halt.

A middle-aged person with a rough but scared voice spoke loudly,

"T-This is Ranizgard Border Inspection, we request you to get off and show your identification items! A-And keep these undead in control too!"

"Let's hop off," I told Sanguis as we got off of the carriage and had my undead open the way at an orderly fashion.

Before us were two guards, a youth who seemed no more than 23 and a middle-aged guard with thin streaks of grey in his hair who seemed to be around 50. Both of them had extremely well-toned bodies and battle-hardened faces, probably because of the constant danger that came from working as the soldiers of a governer in a big city like this. Wars were no uncommon thing.

"Please, don't mind the undead, they are under my control and did you say identification items?" I asked the middle-aged man, but to my surprise he ignored me and looked at Sanguis with a shocked expression.

"B-Bella? Is that you? Oh my Lord, Bella!" said the man in a loving tone.

"U-uhm, Uncle Typher?"

"Yes! Yes! It's me! What are you doing here?! You're supposed to be with your mother. And... your eyes, are they.. black..?" Typher asked as he inspected her small body.

Then, I spoke,

"Hold on here, Bella? What? What's going on, Sanguis? Do you know this man?"

"Yes, Luciel, Uncle Typher always came over to take care of me when mom couldn't and he helped us buy food and clothes. And Bella is my old name. I don't remember when but at some point my new name was Sanguis. So, Uncle, I'm not Bella anymore. I'm Sanguis."

"What are you talking about... what happened to your mother? Who is this man and the undead?"

"W-Well Uncle... Mom is dead... we were going on our last caravan trip for the month and we... we got attacked by some bandits.. they captured Mom and me.. but, Luciel saved me. He killed all those bad guys and got me out of the prison!"

The man closely listened and gave me a meaningful glance as if to say 'I'll verify all of this and get back to you, don't think of trying to pull any funny shit.'

"Okay, let me speak with Mr... Luciel here for a second mkay?"

"S-Sure."

"Can you show me some kind of identification item, 'Sir'? I also want to verify if the words of Bell- Sanguis, are really true." The man spoke while looking at me with a cold glare, as if ready to cut me down and save Sanguis at any second.

"I don't have an identification item, I was also a victim to those bandits as they tortured me for who knows how long. However I can verify my deeds. Those of you seniors who were in the fortress, step forward and form an orderly line facing this man here." I told the undead as they moved and standed straight before Typher.

"This doesn't prove anyth- wait huh? Isn't this Pierre, that wanted man? Hm.. this guy too. And him too! What the hell...?" Typher was about to retaliate but stopped as he expressed his shock at finding out most of these undead are wanted men.

"See Uncle? They're bad guys! They even hurt my legs so I couldn't escape but Luciel healed me!" Sanguis told Typher with a look as if he was foolish for not trusting in her.

"Well.. that explains these fucking bastards," said Typher punching one of the undead as hard as he could, sending it across the field 1 kilometer away. His strength was monstrous. "and your identification problem, but it still doesn't explain how Bella claims she's called Sanguis and how her eyes are black."

"Oh, that's because I got a Ble-" As Sanguis was about to speak I cut her off.

"She awakened an ability early due to her immense trauma, and she also got a title which changed her physical appearance and her name." I said as I stared into Typher's eyes. It was obvious I didn't want to make it known she got a blessing from a God. Not only did I not know how rare or common it was but I also didn't know which Gods people here worshipped. Releasing that information would be beyond idiocy. And it seems Sanguis understood as she shut her mouth and refused to speak further.

"Well, it certainly isn't odd if people awaken before 16 due to traumatic experiences but.. it must be a powerful ability and title to make such drastic changes. Can you show me your personal information window Bella?" Asked Typher.

"No, she cannot. And the girl's name is Sanguis, not Bella, now if you'll excuse us, we'd like to get to Ranizgard." I voiced coldly.

"Tch, I want to take care of her, I'm sure someone like you wouldn't mind one burden less, right?"

"No, she's not a burden, she's a blessing. And as for that I'll have to let Sanguis decide. Sanguis, do you want to come with me or stay with Uncle?"

"U-uhm.. sorry Uncle, I want to stay with Luciel. He saved me.. and he's strong too! I want to help him.."

"Fine, you can stay with him as long as he treats you right. And as for the identification items, I can let you through but you need to go to the Civil Affairs office to stamp your identification cards as soon as possible. Next time it might not be me who intercepts you, understood?" Said Typher as he smiled at Sanguis.

"And as for you, Luciel, take care of Sanguis. If you're as strong as she says you can protect her. Make sure she gets enough food. She's still a growing child." Typher turned to me with a saddened look that seemed to go back years into his life, possibly of when he took care of Sanguis.

"I will. Let's go, Sanguis."

The punched undead had already returned back at the line with extreme speed, I hopped back inside the carriage with Sanguis.

"Iron Spear Formation." I spoke to the undead as they quickly acted. It seems they remembered pretty well.

"Open the gates!" Typher yelled as the guards up on the border wall worked to open the gate.

"Forward," I commanded as the gates fully opened, however what was inside was quite surprising.

Instead of the majestic city I expected, it was simply a massive field spanning across the boundaries of the walls. And in the middle a silver and white platform with faint blue light emanating from it.

As we moved forward we spotted two other guard as they instructed us on what to do.

"Step on the blue magic engraving with as many of your... undead as you can! We'll activate the teleport function."

Contrary to my expectations the silver and white pad was quite spacious, and it even served as a mass teleporter, something not ever achiever by my previous world. Inside the engraving were multiple unkown parts.. but somehow I understood some of it.

Most of it seemed to be magic to calculate the rotation of Plantoria in regards to the location of the other teleporter. The other magic seemed to be life preserving magic and anti-failure magic to prevent us being teleported in the middle of the ground instead of on the other teleporter.

But despite understanding some of it I still couldn't make out what teleport magic really was, it was too sophisticated.

"Everyone squeeze in and enter the white pad, if any of you remain behind follow what we did and teleport after we do." I told the undead.

Surprisingly although we had large numbers we still fit in.

"Prepare for Teleportation! This might be nauseating." Said the guard as he activated some sort of pedestal.

And *BAMF*, with a loud alien sound we found ourselves in the middle of the sky, more specifically we found ourselves standing on the ground in the middle of the sky. Clouds could be seen literally just meters above us.

"Huh... is Ranizgard that floating peice of land we used as orientation?"

"Yes, Luciel, I didn't tell you?" Said Sanguis as I stared out of the windows of the carriage into the majestic golden-like city in front of us.

"No.. no you didn't... how can such a thing exist?"

"No-one really knows but it's said to have been made from the ancient mage Nazifer. Usually bards and legends say he built this place for the generations to come, as protection from the inevitable doom called Death, who would send his Successor to destroy this world with his army of death."

'Hold on. Hold the fuck on, isn't that technically me?! I mean, Death's Successor, that's me!' I thought to myself, my mind spinning and working at full capacity to figure out how they could possibly predict my arrival and my powers.

Nevertheless it was amazing, what kind of existence was this Ancient Mage Nazifer like to have been so powerful? Alas, that couldn't even be imagined now. I was too weak. Then again, I haven't looked at my information, I think I got a level up notification or something.

"Avicta."

[Personal Information

Name: Luciel The Fallen

Sex: Male

Race: Human (Inferior Body)

Age: 32

State of Mind: Stable

Level: 2

Experience: 78/1,100

Health: 200/200

Strength: 10

Dexterity: 14

Intelligence: 30

Mana: 1,500/1,500

Mental Fortitude: 7

Physical Fortitude: 13

Due to leveling up, your constitution has been improved and your mind refined. You have 3 additional stat points to add to your preference.

Stat points: 3

<Abilities>

Undead Summoning Lv.2

Summary: Awaken dead bodies of any kind of creature to make them into your servants. Due to being blessed by Death, you have no limit to your number of servants.

<Sub-Ability>

-- Mana Heritage: Use your mana to heal your undead subordinates.

-- Death's Blessing: Sacrifice 30 Mana to bestow an undead subordinate Death's Blessing, increases stats by 210% and triples intelligence to the point of semi-sentience. (4 Minutes duration) {Due to changes in host's physique, you are limitied to one undead subordinate per Death's Blessing. The number may change depending on host's skills}

Pain Tolerance Lv.MAX

<Sub-Ability>

-- Pain is a Gift: Increases your Physical Fortitude by 10x when you experience unbearable pain. (10 Minutes duration)

-- Optional Immunity: Gives you the choice to completely block off all pain or allow pain, however due to Pain Tolerance overriding this sub-ability you will only experience 50% of the original pain even if you choose to experience it fully.

<Titles>

Death's Successor

Rank: End of Times (Inferior) {Subject to change depending on certain conditions}

-- Allows the Successor to learn Abilities by experiencing a traumatising situation or training a certain action, currently limited to 10 Abilities.

You may choose if you want to acquire an Ability.

-- ???? (Locked, increase Title to Superior rank.)

The One Who Overcomes Death

Rank: Myth (Legendary)

-- Once every 6 months, if you die, you will be able to resurrect at the cost of 1,000 of your subordinates. the number is increased by 3x each time you die.

-- Completely immune to any skill related to fear from Death.

-- Once every week you are able to fake your death by putting your body in a frozen time state, your body remains invincible and your heart is stopped. Effect lasts for 1 full day.

Apprentice Necromancer

Rank: Rare {Evolution is possible once you reach level 20}

-- +10 Strength, +20 Dexterity, +15 Physical Fortitude to all Undead Subordinates.

-- Regeneration of Undead Subordinates is increased from 2 Mana per second/1 Health to 1.5 Mana per second/1.5 Health.]

Hoh, it seems like my stats have been improved, and I even have 3 stat points to use. My mana is at 1500 now and my intelligence at 30... is my mana dependant on intelligence? It seems like for every 1 point in intelligence I get 50 mana, however that conversion rate doesn't seem to be the same for other people like Sanguis. Are stats unique to each person, like a fingerprint? That makes the most sense.

My Undead Summoning skill has also leveled up to level 2. Now my Death's Blessing ability uses 30 mana however it bestows a 210% stat increase and a 4 minute duration. I'll leave the stat points for now and invest them whenever I need it. However Intelligence and Dexterity seem to be the most important currently. As well as Physical Fortitude.

I am a Necromancer and besides, close combat isn't my preferred combat style. my undead can take the physical part. Or maybe, if Sanguis decides to stay with me, she can fight battles as a Vanguard together with me and the legion of Undead.

"Well then, let's move shall we Sanguis?"

"Yes, Luciel!" said Sanguis as she smiled cutely. For a second, it reminded me of how I lost all my fatigue at the bright smile of my daughter.. if only Abby was here...